Forgotten Realms Adventures (2e)

The coming of the Avatars and the Time of Troubles caused tremendous changes in the Forgotten Realms. Areas of dead magic and wild magic have appeared; character classes have been altered; new magical spells have been discovered; old gods have been slain and new ones arisen. All the changes and updates are incorporated into this one essential volume for Forgotten Realms players and dungeon masters alike.

Get new information on specialty priests, currency, new weapons, and treasure. Take a detailed tour of the major cities of the heartland, from the Sword Coast to the Dragon Reach, including the Moonsea, the Dalelands, Cormyr, and Sembia. The most popular and intriguing fantasy world ever published gets even better with this fantastic supplement.

Product History

Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990), by Ed Greenwood & Jeff Grubb, was the first non-core hardcover published for 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1989). It was released in March 1990.

A Series of Setting Books. While AD&D was transitioning from 1st edition to 2nd edition, TSR changed over from publishing hardcover rule supplements to publishing hardcover setting supplements - probably in the hope that they'd sell well despite the transition. Forgotten Realms Adventures was the third, following Dragonlance Adventures (1987) and Greyhawk Adventures (1988) - or perhaps the fourth if you count Manual of the Planes (1987).

Amusingly, Dragonlance Adventures was pure 1st edition, Greyhawk Adventures was advertising as being compatible with both 1st and 2nd edition - which in truth meant it wasn't perfectly aligned with either - while Forgotten Realms Adventures was pure 2nd edition. Together, the three books offered a perfectly symmetrical history of AD&D's edition change.

Expanding the Forgotten Realms. When this book was published, the original Forgotten Realms gray box (1987) was just a few years old; Greenwood & Grubb decided to complement it rather than replacing it. For the most part, that meant giving lots of new details on the Heartlands - covering both cities and secret societies. In doing so, Greenwood & Grubb filled in Sembia, which had previously been "left for DM development in their own campaigns."

Jumping to 2nd Edition. The other major goal of Forgotten Realms Adventures, as outlined by Jeff Grubb, was to bring the campaign setting into line with 2nd edition AD&D. Some of this was pure logistical work, such as listing how specialty priests worked in the Realms and updating spell lists. However, the Avatar events (1989) had also turned the Realms on its head, and this required updating, as Grubb explained in Dragon #153 (January 1990):

"There are new gods, wild magic areas, dead magic areas, character classes that have been dropped or altered, new schools of magic, and gunpowder. All of these will have longstanding effects."

About the Creators. Ed Greenwood is the creator of the Realms, and Jeff Grubb the "engineer" who turned Greenwood's notes into a full AD&D campaign setting. They'd by this time been working together since summer 1986, when Grubb first received Greenwood's notes on the Realms.

About the Product Historian

This history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

Not bad, but this is a weird book as it's most definitely coverage for the 1st edition to 2nd edition conversion for AD&D. The 'Travel Guide' info is limited to one region, so you may want to go elsewhere if you're looking for a general overview of the [...]

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